NEOS Investment Management LLC Boosts Stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

NEOS Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 31.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,157 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 515 shares during the period. NEOS Investment Management LLC's holdings in MSCI were worth $1,294,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of MSCI. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 22.5% during the fourth quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 6,319 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $3,791,000 after acquiring an additional 1,161 shares in the last quarter. Sava Infond d.o.o. bought a new stake in MSCI during the 4th quarter valued at $660,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 567,834 shares of the technology company's stock worth $340,707,000 after buying an additional 31,623 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 7.6% in the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 121,729 shares of the technology company's stock worth $73,218,000 after buying an additional 8,632 shares during the period. Finally, Korea Investment CORP grew its position in shares of MSCI by 24.6% during the 4th quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 44,070 shares of the technology company's stock worth $26,442,000 after buying an additional 8,700 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company's stock.

MSCI Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of MSCI traded up $1.48 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $566.98. 550,131 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 554,854. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $577.89 and a 200-day moving average price of $588.96. MSCI Inc. has a 12-month low of $439.95 and a 12-month high of $642.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19.

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MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.96 by $0.22. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 156.08% and a net margin of 38.83%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.68 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from MSCI's previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.27%. MSCI's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.21%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 5,300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $574.51 per share, for a total transaction of $3,044,903.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,269,951 shares of the company's stock, valued at $729,599,549.01. This represents a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 3.31% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of MSCI from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Wolfe Research upgraded MSCI from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $649.23.

MSCI Profile

MSCI Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides critical decision support tools and solutions for the investment community to manage investment processes worldwide. The Index segment provides indexes for use in various areas of the investment process, including indexed financial product, such as ETFs, mutual funds, annuities, futures, options, structured products, and over-the-counter derivatives; performance benchmarking; portfolio construction and rebalancing; and asset allocation, as well as licenses GICS and GICS Direct.